Categories
Cardiovascular
Diagnostics
Endocrinology
Health Insurance
Medical Devices
Mental Health
Nutrition
Oncology
Public Health
Sexual Health
Popular Articles

Xeloda(R)-Oxaliplatin Combination (XELOX) Shown To Be More Effective Than Standard Chemotherapy Regimen In Adjuvant Colon Cancer
Genentech, Inc. announced that an international Phase III study demonstrated that oral Xeloda® plus oxaliplatin (XELOX) is superior to a commonly used intravenous chemotherapy, 5-FU/LV (infused 5-fluorouracil plus leucovorin), in increasing the time people with adjuvant colon cancer lived without their cancer returning when given immediately after surgery. The data show those who participated in the study and took XELOX immediately after surgery lived longer without their cancer being detectable than those who took intravenous 5U/LV. No new adverse events related to Xeloda were observed in the study.
generic viagra online
Opinion Piece Examines If Abortion Access Should Ever Be Restricted
"Just because something is legal -- and should be legal -- does not mean it is always ethical," Frances Kissling, former president of Catholics for Choice, writes in a Salon opinion piece, adding that "sometimes the right thing to say to a woman [seeking abortion] is "I am so sorry, I cannot do what you ask."" According to Kissling, there has "always been a fear in the choice movement that if we deal with "morality," we are going to lose." However, "tough issues come up more frequently than they did in the first years after" Roe v. Wade, and such issues "should make us pause and think hard," Kissling writes, adding, "The thought of putting every woman through the indignity of meeting with an ethics committee, or getting a doctor to sign off on her reasons for abortion, has forced most of us to stick with the principle that women must be allowed to make their own private ethical decisions, without the state getting involved." However, Kissling comments that "we express moral views about every other issue under the sun." She continues, "Expressing our views about controversial issues is how society develops norms and shared values."Kissling adds that if abortion-rights supporters "follow the example of those opposed to abortion and present only one value -- a woman"s right to make this decision -- as the only ethical consideration worth discussing in difficult cases, do we not become as extremist as we say they are?" She continues, "Is there not, in an ethical sense, an important weighing of women"s rights and needs against a respect for life, even the life of nonpersons? Is there a point in pregnancy when our respect for life might outweigh a woman"s right to make this choice?" Kissling asks, "[I]s the fact that we have avoided it part of the reason that polls show that more people are willing to call themselves pro-life than ever before?"According to Kissling she has "come to believe that women"s autonomy does not require that all efforts be made to protect women from pain or from hearing the word "no."" Kissling writes, "I still have a twinge of doubt when I write these words," adding, "For most of my years as an advocate of a woman"s right to decide, I stepped back from this conclusion" and "could not bring myself to say that there are circumstances in which I would force a woman to continue a pregnancy." The piece continues, "What changed for me? ... Mostly, I feared that single value ethics about abortion, on either side of the debate, would result in a coarsening of our respect for both women and for life" (Kissling, Salon, 6/21).
News of the day
One In Three Detected Breast Cancers Is Overdiagnosed
Researchers conclude in a paper just published on bmj.com that one in three breast cancers detected in a population with a public breast screening program is overdiagnosed.
Sexual Health

Study Questions Whether Ontario's Primary Health Care Reforms Serve The Sick And Poor

Ontario has invested millions of dollars into the healthcare system in response to a serious doctor shortage. But despite improvements in primary care, a study out of the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) has found Ontario"s chronically sick and poor are the least likely to benefit from the investments. In response to a serious doctor shortage, Ontario has undertaken major investments in new models of care provided by family doctors and other health workers. The first two models that were widely available to Ontario"s doctors, the Family Health Network (FHN) and the Family Health Group (FHG) both have after-hours care requirements and incentives for a host of services including prevention, mental health care, smoking cessation and enhanced management of chronic diseases. The major difference between these models is that FHN doctors are paid mostly through an annual payment per registered patient, based on a person"s age and sex, called a capitation payment. Under this system, the doctor gets paid regardless of how many visits the patient makes. FHG doctors continue to be paid mostly through enhanced fee-for-service, a system that pays only when patients make a visit to a doctor. Compared with doctors who are paid per visit, doctors who are paid standard annual fees (FHN or the capitation group) had: * Enrolled healthier patients * Enrolled 30 per cent fewer new patients who didn"t previously have family doctors * Provided 32 per cent less after-hours care In addition, their patients had a 20 per cent higher rate of emergency department visits. "As far as we could tell, this situation was present before the doctors joined their groups and didn"t change as a result of capitation. This means that the capitation model attracted doctors with these kinds of practices. Both of the new models enrolled patients who were wealthier than average in their communities. While the capitation model provides an alternative to fee-for-service practice, its incentives may need to be altered so that its benefits can be made available to all Ontarians," says Dr. Rick Glazier, ICES Scientist and lead researcher. The study looked at 4,060 doctors with nearly 3 million patients between September, 2005 and August, 2006. Author affiliations: ICES (Glazier, Klein-Geltink, Kopp, Sibley); St. Michael"s Hospital Centre for Research on Inner City Health and Department of Family and Community Medicine (Glazier), the University of Toronto Department of Family and Community Medicine (Glazier) and Dalla Lana School of Public Health (Glazier), Ontario. The study "A population-based evaluation of large-scale primary care reform models" is in the May 25, 2009 issue of CMAJ. More detailed study findings on the ICES website:http:// www.ices.on.ca Deborah Creatura Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences


Add your comment:
Name:
Site address: http://
Your message:
Enter today\\\\'s date, 2 digits
(spam protection):

© Copyright 2009